The new emphasis on patients as active consumers of health care and the rapid growth in the availability of health information lend urgent significance to the question of how people make sense of public health information to make decisions about their health. Although the new information paradigm has the potential to greatly improve health and health care in the US, the reality of what information searching and scanning actually occurs and the impact of this searching and scanning on health behavior and health status is what actually matters. In this application, we propose to develop a descriptive model and specific measures, of cancer related information search and scanning behavior in the general population and to determine whether this behavior is associated with post-diagnosis treatment choices as well as with changes in cancer screening and prevention behavior. The proposed research program includes three studies each of which focuses on colon, breast and prostate cancer. Study 1 will improve our understanding of the relevant dimensions of searching/scanning behavior (SSB) in the context of the target cancer related behaviors, using in-depth interviews with samples drawn from both a general population and from among people recently diagnosed with each of the three cancer. The knowledge gained from Study 1 will inform and expand our conceptual model of searching and scanning behavior in the particular context of cancer and will guide development of a survey instrument for use in Study 2 and Study 3. Study 2 will use large, population based cross-sectional surveys (N=1800 general population, N=300 cancer patients) to refine and validate the descriptive model and measures of SSB developed in Study 1 and to measure the distribution and correlates of SSB in the general population. Building on the identification of a representative cohort of individuals in Study 2, Study 3 will use a prospective cohort design (N=900) to examine the association of information searching and scanning behaviors with the evolution of attitudes, subjective norms, self-efficacy, intentions and subsequent decisions about the target cancer related behaviors. The results of these studies will provide both empirical evidence about the prevalence, determinants and outcomes of cancer information searching and scanning in the general population and critically needed tools for furthering the study of this important area.